What is it about education funding that provokes more meaningless rhetorical bluster from politicians than nearly any other election-year issue? Voters in Maryland have been practically shouting to their elected representatives for months that public education -- and that includes higher education -- is among their greatest concerns going into next month's gubernatorial election. That, combined with the fact that funding for higher education takes up nearly one-tenth of the state budget, should be enough to compel the candidates to stake out innovative positions on the matter rather than spout ineffectual slogans and lob ideological barbs that mean virtually nothing. Unfortunately, with the election now less than two weeks away, that has not been the case.
As Democratic candidate Mayor Martin O'Malley and Republican Governor Robert Ehlrich take last-minute swipes at each other in a race that has, from the start, been saturated with vitriol, substantive political discourse on this urgent matter has been all but nonexistent. All that either candidate is willing to say, it seems, is that the other is wrong. Neither, however, will tell us about what can be done.
What we do know is that the state's support for education funding has been shaky at best in the past several years. Aid programs have, at different points in time, gone without sufficient funding; Tuitions have skyrocketed and scholarships have yet to adequately meet the needs of the state's neediest students. And the situation will only get worse as the housing boom ends and a substantial decrease in revenue from property taxes forces fresh budget constraints in the coming years.
So what is each candidate doing? Hurling politically motivated criticisms that, regardless of how legitimate they may seem, do little to advance genuine dialogue on an issue that affects larger numbers of Marylanders each year.
And on the one aspect of this debate in which the candidates have made their positions somewhat clear -- funding programs that train people to do the jobs Maryland needs most -- the ways in which they disagree are so negligible, it is hardly worth parsing the mind-numbing specifics of each plan.
The voters of Maryland and the colleges they support deserve better than the hot air they're currently getting from these candidates. The election is nearly upon us, but in the remaining time we hope the candidates will get around to talking more substantively about one of this state's most important issues. If they don't, it could be disastrous for both their political fortunes and for the future of higher education in the state.
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